Gabriel Attal is currently traveling around France, promoting his first book “En homme libre” (“As a Free Man”). The 37-year-old briefly served as Macron's prime minister in 2024 before being sidelined in a surprise move by the French president to dissolve parliament and call early general elections.
Attal, leader of the French president's Renaissance party, does not hide his presidential ambitions. “I believe I know how to govern France,” he told the French weekly Le Point last week.
But before he takes office, Attal must establish himself in a crowded field of contenders, where he wants to stand out as a centrist candidate best equipped to take on the far right.
For now, polls show that this position is held by another former prime minister: Edouard Philippe.
Philippe was Macron's prime minister from 2017 to 2020. A poll published last month indicated that the center-right could advance through the first round of the presidential election and compete with the far-right National Rally (RN) if it chose the 55-year-old conservative parliamentarian as its candidate.
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If Attal decides to run in the elections, polls suggest that Centrists may be eliminated in the first roundplacing itself behind the far right and left. The French political center currently appears too weak to be competitive with two candidates splitting votes.
RN maintains its position as the most popular political party in France, and its candidate – both in the scenario of Jordan Bardella and Marine Le Pen – is on track to qualify for the second round.
Former prime ministers distance themselves from Macron
Both potential presidential candidates they have at least one thing in common: they do not want to be associated with Macronwhose unpopularity became a liability. In October, Philippe acted like Brutus and called on his former boss to resign after the third collapse of the French government in less than a year.
In turn, Attal has repeatedly criticized Macron's decision to dissolve parliament and call early elections in 2024 while he was prime minister — one of the main causes of the current political instability in France.
This is a topic to which he devoted an entire chapter of his book. “I warned him of the consequences: at best, an ungovernable country; at worst, a majority for National Unity,” he wrote.
Former French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe (left) and then-French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal attend an election meeting of the Renaissance party, Paris, May 7, 2024.THOMAS SAMSON / AFP / AFP
Book tours are a common practice in French politics, intended not so much to sell copies but to generate publicity and media appearances.
Attal refrained from attacking his rival directly, but was able to make a point thanks to interviews promoting his book some key differences from Philippe.
On one particularly sensitive issue in France, pensions, Attal described Philippe's policy proposal – raising the minimum retirement age to 67 – as “brutal” and said it would lead to “despair”.
Macron's 2023 move to increase the minimum age from 62 to 64 has already met with widespread opposition and led to mass strikes and protests by millions of people.
Meanwhile, Philippe's supporters say Attal's book — which delves into his personal life, including the death of his father and his romantic relationship with European commissioner Stephane Sejourne — lacks policy specifics.
– It's just Gabriel, Gabriel, Gabriel – his life, his relationship, his father… but what are his values? What is his vision for France?” asked one former government official supporting Philippe.
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